Comment: Blair's former spy bosses are trying
desperately to help him in the face of a Commons revolt and personal
scandals derailing his police state agenda by bullying the British public
into submission.

The suicide bombings in London on July 7 were
not the worst attacks that we could expect in Britain, according to
the former head of MI6.

Sir Richard Dearlove, who retired last year as
head of the Secret Intelligence Service, said chemical, biological and
genetic terrorism was in prospect and a nuclear attack could not be
ruled out.

Acknowledging that the July bombings had been
"very lethal", he said they did not amount to a "strategic
terrorist event".

Sir Richard, who was taking part in a debate on
terrorism arranged by the City law firm Ashurst, said the July attacks
"bore the characteristic of a locally planned and carried-out event".

However we probably had to conclude that "the
clock is running on some much more dreadful events that could occur".

In the medium to long term, terrorists would have
access through the internet to "some quite frightening dual-use
technologies," he said.

These had not yet been used in the context of
terrorism, but Sir Richard thought that they would probably eventually
be used.

"There is no question that bits of al-Qa'eda
would have been extremely interested in biological weapons technology,
chemical weapons technology, radiological devices and, ultimately, nuclear
devices."

Sir Richard expressed "some sympathy"
for the Government's approach to fighting terrorism through legislation,
adding that there was "extensive complacency" in Britain about
the nature of the terrorist threat.